HIGH SCHOOL BOYS SOCCER: Pennington takes out top-seeded Allentown

ROBBINSVILLE — Charlie Paige’s midfield serve which became the game-winning goal may not have been the way the fifth-seeded Pennington School boys soccer team drew up getting past top-seeded Allentown, but game plans are meant to be changed.

With two top-notch programs going up against each other in the semifinals of the Mercer County Tournament at Robbinsville High, defense ruled for the Red Raiders and Redbirds.

But a foul at midfield with 5:31 left in the second half gave Pennington a free kick from the other side of midfield, Paige promptly launched a serve on goal which found its way into the net for the game’s only goal.

With its 1-0 victory, the Red Raiders return to the MCT Final, in which it finished second a year ago. Pennington (16-2-1) will play second-seeded Trenton Catholic Academy (17-1-1) at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Rider University for the title.

While Red Raiders head coach Chad Bridges insisted that Paige has scored by that method before, the junior back was surprised to hear that.

“Someone might have deflected them,” Paige said. “I don’t really even know if that one was me, but I’ll take credit for it.”

Paige was given the free kick after Allentown’s Kevin Primich was sent off with a yellow card after a hard foul on Pennington striker Ethan Decker at midfield. Paige sent a long kick toward goal as just about everyone else on the field squashed into the penalty area.

It was hard to tell at first if the ball bounced and popped over Redbirds second-half goalkeeper Cameron Maxwell into the back of the webbing. But if there was a deflection of any sort, the junior ’keeper claimed it was his.

“When the ball went in the air, I saw a bunch of people in front of me going for the ball,” Maxwell said. “I think if anything it was a deflection. I jumped and punched at the ball, but hit it with the wrong part of my hand and it went backwards.”

“I didn’t see it at all past the guys who were in the box,” Paige said. “I just tried to hit a good ball. Luckily it went in for me.”

The Red Raiders had come the closest to scoring with 7:15 left in the first half when Paul McWhirter headed a Pat Devlin corner kick off the post. When Anders Nilsson followed that shot, his blast was slapped over the crossbar by Allentown first-half goalkeeper Josh Samuels.

The Redbirds also came close to scoring on a long serve when Anthony DeRisi lauched an angled, 30-yard free kick on net with 15:38 to play in the second half, but Pennington goalkeeper Jimmy Coyle leaped to tap the ball away.

Even though Allentown pushed forward imposing senior forward Stefan Pappas with Primich in the last 10 minutes, the Redbirds could not avoid suffering their first setback after a 15-0 start.

Pennington’s players, meanwhile, were spurred on by what they believed to be a low seed.

“That’s just motivation for us,” Paige said. “It does feel good to get back to the (Mercer County) final.